Men's basketball: CU Buffs rally to beat Dayton

Win sets up NCAA rematch with Baylor at Charleston Classic

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CHARLESTON, S.C. -- Bring on the Bears.

That was the sentiment outside the Colorado locker room after the Buffs' 67-57 victory over Dayton in the opening round of the Charleston Classic on Thursday at TD Arena.

"I'm rooting for them right now," Andre Roberson said after grabbing 14 rebounds to help the Buffs advance by the Flyers. "Revenge ... I'd like to see that."

No. 16 Baylor did its part about two hours later with an 84-74 victory over Boston College to set up another tournament showdown against the Buffs in Friday's first semifinal here (10:30 a.m., ESPNU).

On March 17, after CU won four games to capture the Pac-12 Tournament and then upset UNLV in the NCAA Tournament, the Bears spoiled the party before it moved on to the Sweet 16.

Baylor has lost Quincy Acy, Quincy Miller and Perry Jones III to the NBA, but Brady Heslip -- who knocked down nine 3-pointers in the 80-63 win over CU at the Pit in Albuquerque, N.M. -- is back.

So is Pierre Jackson, who scored 31 points in the Bears' win over Boston College.

"I would love to see it," CU head coach Tad Boyle said of a reunion with an old Big 12 foe after his team outscored Dayton 44-30 in the second half to survive and advance. "I think it would be a great opportunity for our guys to redeem themselves that were here last year and a chance for some of our new guys to prove themselves. Because they're obviously a pretty darn good basketball team."

The Buffs (2-0) are a talented team that seems to be getting better by the minute.

CU trailed Dayton 27-23 at halftime after shooting just 34.5 percent from the field. The Flyers (1-1) extended that lead to 35-27 after a ferocious dunk by Josh Benson with 14:45 remaining in the game.

And then Askia Booker made a clutch 3-pointer to turn the tide.

"He's a bucket-getter," CU freshman forward Josh Scott said of Booker. "He loves moments like that. I wasn't surprised when he hit it. I was excited for sure, but it was expected."

Booker's key basket started a 16-2 run by the Buffs that included 3-pointers by Xavier Johnson and Spencer Dinwiddie.

Dayton guard Kevin Dillard banked a brilliant shot in to beat the shot clock and tie the score 47-47 with 7:00 to play.

CU led 56-50 after back-to-back layups by Dinwiddie and Sabatino Chen.

Booker -- who led all scorers with 16 points on 6-for-11 shooting (3-for-5 behind the arc) -- provided the dagger with another 3-pointer to give the Buffs a 62-54 cushion with 1:25 left.

"(Assistant) coach (Jean) Prioleau told me to be a little more aggressive," Booker said of his mentality in the second half. "Once I found myself open, I wasn't passing up the shot. I felt confident I'd knock it down."

The Buffs were able to close the game out despite a 14-for-24 (58.3 percent) effort at the free throw line.

Dinwiddie did go 4-for-4 at the stripe in the final seconds to make the score somewhat misleading.

"It wasn't easy, that's for sure. This game we had to just grind it out at the end," Booker said. "This is exactly what we needed. We didn't want to come out here and blow somebody out the first game. We needed to humble ourselves, and that's exactly what happened."

Johnson finished with 15 points and three rebounds off the bench. Scott had 13 points and five rebounds with Dinwiddie adding 12 points and five rebounds.

Dayton still won the battle of the boards, 40-38. But the defensive-minded Buffs held the Flyers to 32.8 percent shooting, including a 5-for-21 effort behind the arc.

"I thought that was a high level college basketball game for early November," Boyle said. "That's what makes this win so satisfying to us, we beat a good team."

And now the Buffs will have another opportunity to try and beat Baylor.

"They're going to be a good challenge for us, I'm pretty excited to play them," said Scott, who followed up a 14-point performance in his CU debut a week ago against Wofford College with another impressive effort against Dayton. "I was watching that (NCAA Tournament) game at home and I wished I was playing in it."

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